In the hours leading up to the NBA Draft in June, ESPN outlined the life and accomplishments of inevitable No. 1 pick Cooper Flagg in an animated graphic that took an aerial view over a pine tree-covered rendering of Maine as various state icons popped up: a moose, a lighthouse, lobster traps.

Turning it over to Marty Smith reporting from Flagg’s hometown of Newport, he described the main drag as “idyllic Americana” and answered questions from the hosts back in the studio about the lobster rolls he’d eaten.

It made for an early start to the season when national media outlets flock to Maine, with our shimmering lakes and boat-filled harbors camera ready and journalists eager for an assignment that, in the downtime, can feel a lot like an all-expenses-paid vacation. Nationwide interest in the 2026 race for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ seat means they might be sticking around longer, too.

That could help fill out the picture of Maine presented to people outside the state, who mostly see our sunniest side in travel guides and the TikTok videos of influential vacationers. While all the attention validates our belief that we punch above our weight as a state, the concentration of Maine content that comes out in summer could be giving people an oversimplified impression.

The Boston Globe visited Acadia for a story in August about the effects of President Donald Trump’s cuts to the National Park Service on a “morning (that) couldn’t have been more postcard perfect.”

An essay in The Cut about the spectacle surrounding visiting day at Maine sleepaway camps juxtaposed the indulgent behavior of wealthy New York parents with the “dusty, bumpy, wooded roads” leading to their children.

Meanwhile, a New York Times book reviewer, who in July attended a summer camp in The Forks for women in an online book club, drove in on the “single road into town, lined with leggy pines and water so blue-green, it looked like it was ripped from the cover of an L.L. Bean catalog, then photoshopped.”

Although the Times doesn’t shy away from showing Maine’s darker side, its coverage still ramps up in the warmer months. In addition to featuring Maine in food and travel guides, it sent reporters to the state at least five times since the spring, starting with a feature on the Maine Oyster Trail.

That happened to include a boat tour with soon-to-be U.S. Senate hopeful Graham Platner. The photos from that trip ended up doing double duty when the Times decided to make a splash out of his candidacy announcement last month, setting off a media frenzy unusual for an unknown player.

A profile of Platner in The New Republic that followed described the air in Taunton Bay as “salty enough to make your nose wrinkle.”

Come back in a few months, and it will make your whole face burn.